Take a seat… with Jesus.

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4But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:4-7

Here is an aspect of our identity in Christ that may seem far out! But, this is what is being pictured here: God treating you with the greatest honour available to us—to be seated with Jesus!

The typical image of a servant is that a servant is “waiting tables.” The servant serves at a banquet. The servant may not even open his or her mouth if they are approaching the throne.  So the picture here is of immense honour and care being taken by God towards all of us who are in Christ.  At baptism we use the phrase, “buried with Jesus in baptism and raised to walk in new life.”  But here the picture is that we have been raised not just to new life, but also to a new status with the King Jesus who has been raised. Now, because of God’s mercy toward us In Christ, we have the honour of being seated with Him in heaven. Mercy is not merited. God has graced us with more than we can imagine!

Why? Because, God loves you! Because, God is rich in mercy. Because, God desires to show “the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward” you!

What an awesome God we serve!

What are you building your life on?

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Here’s the quote from Tim Keller, in The Reason for God showing how “particular kinds of brokenness and damage” are caused by idolatry. You can also ask yourself, “What am I building my life on?  If I build my life on _____ then I could expect ______.

If you center your life and identity on your spouse or partner, you will be emotionally dependent, jealous, and controlling. The other person’s problems will be overwhelming to you.

If you center your life and identity on your family and children, you will try to live your life through your children until they resent you or have no self of their own. At worst, you may abuse them when they displease you

If you center your life and identity on your work and career, you will be a driven workaholic and a boring, shallow person. At worst you will lose family and friends and, if your career goes poorly, develop deep depression.

If you center your life and identity on money and possessions, you’ll be eaten up by worry or jealousy about money. You’ll be willing to do unethical things to maintain your lifestyle, which will eventually blow up your life.

If you center your life and identity on pleasure, gratification, and comfort, you will find yourself getting addicted to something. You will become chained to the “escape strategies” by which you avoid the hardness of life.

If you center your life and identity on relationships and approval, you will be constantly overly hurt by criticism and thus always losing friends. You will fear confronting others and therefore will be a useless friend.

If you center your life and identity on a “noble cause,” you will divide the world into “good” and “bad” and demonize your opponents. Ironically, you will be controlled by your enemies. Without them, you have no purpose.

If you center your life and identity on religion and morality, you will, if you are living up to your moral standards, be proud, self-righteous, and cruel. If you don’t live up to your moral standards, your guilt will be utterly devastating.

Tim Keller, The Reason for God (Dutton, 2008), pp. 275-276

Jesus invites us to build our life on Him through knowing Him and doing His word and will. When Jesus’ work through the cross is the foundation of our life He actually becomes what will last through the storms of time.  Jesus says,

24  “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  25And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.  26And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.27And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”  Matthew 7:24-27

If the state believes it can… it will.

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In case you were wondering here’s what I hope for in civil authority when it comes to people who subscribe to religious communities and beliefs.

When civil authorities make it their intent to seriously limit the rights and freedoms of people based on their religious opinions or views, it means they can seriously limit you if you happen to hold a religious view or sentiment. Civil authority in the oppression of people of faith, even if it is a faith you do not agree with or subscribe to, may or may not act in combination with or in response to societal outrage or pressure, prejudice, or violence against those with “minority” views. When civil authority losses the capacity to differentiate between those who have an intent to harm and those who do not, we all lose.

It is my hope that civil authorities would maintain a degree of sophistication when it comes to faith, ideologies, and religions. Acting to protect religious liberty as a posture toward minority groups will indeed promote liberty for all. We must continue to build up the fragile and always eroding posture of respect for all people by insisting on an environment of trust and civility. Violence inshrined in a “blood thirsty” darkness of heart and mind does not come solely wrapped up in one  particular ethnicity or people group. When we start to believe that violence is simply owned by one group above any others, we will fail to recognize hate speech when it comes pouring across our media outlets.

Some baptists know about this. Or perhaps they used to know about it. This is the tribe of Jesus followers of which I am a part.

Here’s the Baptist Faith and Message, 1963, statement on religious liberty, that is part of the Statement of Faith for the Canadian National Baptist Convention.

XVII. RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

God alone is Lord of the conscience, and He has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are contrary to His Word or not contained in it. Church and state should be separate. The state owes to every church protection and full freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual ends. In providing for such freedom no ecclesiastical group or denomination should be favored by the state more than others. Civil government being ordained of God, it is the duty of Christians to render loyal obedience thereto in all things not contrary to the revealed will of God. The church should not resort to the civil power to carry on its work. The gospel of Christ contemplates spiritual means alone for the pursuit of its ends. The state has no right to impose penalties for religious opinions of any kind. The state has no right to impose taxes for the support of any form of religion. A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal, and this implies the right of free and unhindered access to God on the part of all men, and the right to form and propagate opinions in the sphere of religion without interference by the civil power.

Gen 1:27; 2:7; Mat 6:6-7, 24; 16:26; 22:21
John 8:36; Acts 4:19-20; Rom 6:1-2; 13:1-7
Gal 5:1, 13; Php 3:20; 1Ti 2:1-2; Jas 4:12
1Pe 2:12-17; 3:11-17; 4:12-19

Here’s some highlights to draw out as we consider leadership and the civil society:

“The state owes to every church protection and full freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual ends. In providing for such freedom no ecclesiastical group or denomination should be favored by the state more than others.”

“The state has no right to impose penalties for religious opinions of any kind.”

Actively protecting religious liberty I believe is a desired posture for a “secular society.” Of course I’m biased.

So to my fellows baptists we would have to ask: Does this hope for civil society apply to only to us? What obligation do we have to ask for this hope to extended to people who subscribe to other faith positions? How do we want our leaders to think about this issue when it comes to working out any of the forms of democratic governance we enjoy today?

If the state believes it can discriminate on the basis of religious belief or community connection it will discriminate without prejudice.

 

WE are for the praise of His glory.

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God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify Him. Ephesians 1:12-14 NLT

 

God so delights to be in relationship with you! In fact God says this relationship brings Him glory and praise. Its an honour to be in relationship with you. How can this be? God, the great, the glorious, the holy, the magnificent, the holy, the perfect — receives praise and glory from us? And it matters to Him?

He is the Creator and we are the created. Now through Jesus Christ His Son, the Holy Spirit has been given to us as a “deposit” guaranteeing God’s full redemption of us as His own. The people who were “lost” to Him through the ravages of sin are now His again through the rescue of Jesus Christ. It is His action towards us that causes us to be for the glory of His praise. Now you are daily empowered through the Spirit to enter into this graceful relationship and actively choose to praise and glorify God.

We were also chosen.

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11Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.  Ephesians 1:11

God has included you in His plans. That’s incredible isn’t it? One of the words used here is “predestined.” It means that God has been been working something out that He had in mind a long time ago. God has been working out how to include you in the fellowship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He has been working out how to include you in the knowledge of His grace, truth, and love. Now that you have received Jesus, you are not just coasting along in life according to fate. Nor are you simply the master of your own destiny. Now in Christ you are free to live with the incredible knowledge of your worth to Him. You are His! So go ahead, make a decision, risk to reach out, risk to let the reality of Jesus in your life be known to others!

God chose you in advance… of anything you have done, said, dreamt, thought, or wished for. God chose you in advance… of anything that has happened to you to that challenges the truth in this world. God chose you in advance to be with Him through the work of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord!